


Fighting with Friends

by FallenFeathers



Series: Discovering Destiny [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Gwaine (Merlin), Gwaine Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Merlin needs a break, POV Gwaine (Merlin), Protective Gwaine (Merlin), Training, Worried Gwaine, implied Gwaine/Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 23:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22867993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenFeathers/pseuds/FallenFeathers
Summary: Things are tense in the castle after Arthur banishes Guinevere, so Gwaine takes Merlin away for a day to distract him.
Relationships: Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin)
Series: Discovering Destiny [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1577164
Comments: 8
Kudos: 188





	Fighting with Friends

“Keep up, Merlin!” Gwaine tried to hide his amusement as he watched his companion climb up the hill behind him. They had been walking for the better part of the morning, but they were almost at their destination.

“You know,” Merlin said between breathes, “you’re starting to sound like Arthur.”

“You wound me,” Gwaine cried, feigning offense. “And to think I got you a day off from the Princess.”

Merlin laughed. “I’m not sure I should be thanking you.” He paused as he reached where Gwaine had stopped. “Why are we out here again?”

“You’ll see.” He patted Merlin on the back with a grin before walking off again. For all his complaining, Gwaine had noticed that the further they made it from the castle, the more relaxed Merlin became. The knight couldn’t blame his friend. The past week had been quite the ordeal, for everyone, with Lancelot’s miraculous return only to end in betrayal. The morale in the castle was low, to say the least. Thus Gwaine’s plan to get Merlin, who was probably suffering the most besides maybe Arthur right now, as far away from the castle as he could. If only for a few hours.

It wasn’t long before they reached their destination. The clearing was small, but big enough for what Gwaine had in mind. He had found this spot on one of his various forays outside; when Camelot’s walls started closing in around him and the urge to start wandering took him. He wasn’t at the tavern quite as often as he let everyone believe.

“Well?” Gwaine gestured around them. “What do you think?”

Merlin rolled his eyes and dropped his pack on the ground. “I think you’re an idiot for dragging me out to the middle of the forest for no good reason. What are we doing here, Gwaine?”

The grin Merlin received in response was not reassuring. “We,” Gwaine said, “are here to teach you how to fight.”

“What?” Obviously, Merlin hadn’t expected that answer.

“It has occured to me, that when you join us on patrols you don’t have a means of defending yourself.” Gwaine knew that wasn’t entirely true, but Merlin wasn’t aware of that. “Not to mention when you go out gathering herbs by yourself, gods know where.” He pointedly ignored the look Merlin was giving him and poked him in the chest to emphasise his point. “I would like to not have to worry about finding you dead in a ditch, or worse, because you didn’t have a means to defend yourself.”

“I’ve managed to take care of myself this long, haven’t I?” There was a challenge there that Gwaine wasn’t sure he was ready to accept. Not yet. “Besides, Leon showed me how to use a sword when I started going with Arthur on more than just hunting trips.”

“And how often do you carry a sword, eh?” Gwaine nodded when Merlin didn’t say anything. “Mhm. Besides, I’ve seen you with a sword. I’m not even going to try to teach you how to fight with a sword. I’m going to teach you how to fight with something much more useful, a knife. Or knives.” He shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes.”

“You’re serious.”

“Don’t sound so surprised. Now.” Gwaine pulled a knife from his boot. “Knives are useful for a variety of reasons. First off, as a servant, not sure how well you walking around with a sword would go over with the nobles. Not to mention I’m sure you’d find a way to trip over it.” Merlin rolled his eyes. “Second, knives can be hidden and remain easily accessible. Imagine a bandit comes after poor defenseless you, and you stab him with a knife. He wasn’t expecting it. You’ve thrown him off his rhythm. Then one of us dashing knights can come to your rescue and finish him off for you.”

“Right.” Merlin didn’t sound particularly impressed. “I already have a knife, and I do know you to use it.”

“Alright, then.” Gwaine sheathed his knife. “Show me.”

Raising his eyebrows, too much like Gaius for Gwaine’s liking, Merlin pulled his knife from his pocket. Not really much of a weapon, Gwaine thought. It was small, clearly designed more as a kitchen or woodworking tool than anything else. He’d seen Merlin use it before when they’d set up camp on patrols. Gwaine watched as Merlin walked to the other side of the clearing. Knowing better than to question what he was doing, the knight pulled an apple from his pack for a snack. No sooner had he taken his first bite, than the apple was struck out of his hand.

“What the…?” There on the ground was his snack with Merlin’s knife sticking out of it.

“You know,” Merlin said, sporting his trademark grin, “I really wish people would stop assuming I’m defenseless.”

“Where did you learn to throw a knife like that?” Gwaine retrieved the knife from his skewered apple. “This isn’t even balanced properly!”

Merlin just shrugged. “There wasn’t exactly a lot to do growing up. My friend Will and I used to throw knives when the adults weren’t around.”

Gwaine shook his head. Merlin was always full of surprises. “Okay, well, I’d love to see how you’d do with a properly balanced knife, designed for throwing. But until then,” he handed the knife back to Merlin, “I can teach you how to fend off someone coming at you with a sword. You’ll be needing proper weapons for that.”

Gwaine pulled a pair of sheathed knives from his pack. They weren’t like any blades Merlin would have seen before. The first knife, shorter than the other, had an odd shape. It had a heavy leather grip with a brass crossguard between the blade and the hilt. The body of the blade was broad, but narrow at the hilt; this concentrated all of the weight at the sharp tip of the blade which balanced with the hilt, designed for throwing. The second knife was significantly longer with a similar leather grip and brass crossguard. The blade, however, was entirely different. It was heavier, with a straight sharp edge on one side and a thick heavy edge on the other. It, too, was balanced for throwing. Handing the blades to Merlin, Gwaine watched as he inspected them, testing their balance and sharpness. Gwaine had convinced Elyan to make them special for him. He wasn’t entirely sure there were a pair of knives like these anywhere else in the world. Gwaine had designed them based on several different styles he’d seen throughout his travels. As a bonus, Elyan, in his time away from Camelot, had learned a special technique of cooling, reheating, and overlapping the metal so that the blade became incredibly strong and maintained a sharper edge than most swords. Gwaine definitely owed Elyan one.

“Gwaine.” Merlin started to hand back the knives. “I can’t accept these.”

“They’re a gift, Merlin.” He gently pushed his friend’s hands away. “This whole thing is so you can defend yourself if you need to. You’ll need good blades to do that. Just accept them, and we can get started.”

They spent the next few hours sparring. All of Merlin’s time spent with Arthur on the training field was finally starting to pay off. Gwaine would attack Merlin with his sword, and Merlin would have to either parry, bind the blades, or find an opening around the bigger weapon. Occasionally, they’d switch so that Merlin could better understand the effect his defence had against a would-be attacker.

“See how when you cross the knives like this,” Gwaine demonstrated, crossing the two knives in front of the sword, the smaller blade supporting the larger one, catching the sword in the ‘V’ created by the knives. “From here, you have complete control over his sword. The smaller knife provides support, and leverage, for the larger one. This will work for any kind of side, overhand or underhand cut. If your attacker tries to thrust at you, then you just use that bigger knife to deflect it away from you.”

Merlin studied the blades a moment as he took in what Gwaine had just shown him before nodding. “It seems so simple. Does Arthur teach this to all the knights?”

Gwaine laughed. “Princess wishes he knew half of what I do about fighting. Come on, I think we’ve earned a break.”

As they ate a small lunch, Gwaine noticed Merlin had become uncharacteristically silent. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“Huh? What?” Merlin looked up a bit startled. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

Contrary to popular belief, Gwaine was capable of tact. However, he was a firm believer that there was a time and place for tact, and that generally it was just easier to confront the situation head-on. “You’re thinking about Gwen, aren’t you?”

Reluctantly, Merlin nodded. “And Lancelot.”

Gwaine thought carefully about what to say next. “Arthur’s an idiot.”

“Hmph!” He took that as a sign of agreement.

“I know for a fact that whatever Lancelot and Gwen had before was over long before he died. It was amicable, as far as I could tell. They still cared deeply for each other, sure. In another life, maybe they would have ended up together. But Gwen chose Arthur. She loves Arthur. Heaven knows why. Lancelot understood that. He just wanted her to be happy. Which is why none of what happens makes sense. If Arthur wasn’t being an idiot, he’d see there was no way that was our Lancelot.”

“What?!” Merlin squeaked.

Of course, Gwaine realized. Merlin probably knew what really happened. Gwaine looked him over for a moment before shaking his head. “Lancelot would never betray Arthur like that. Or ever put Gwen in such a position. So, it stands to reason that it wasn't Lancelot. My money is on Morgana. She probably found a way to enchant Gwen, too. Explains why she was so confused.”

Merlin was just staring at him now, mouth agape. It took him a few moments to find his voice. “How did you know?”

“It’s amazing what you notice when people assume you’re drunk.” Gwaine shrugged. “Or I’m just more observant than most. And you? How did you know?”

He watched as Merlin raced to come up with a suitable answer.   
, Gwaine thought sadly,   
. 

“He, uh, he didn’t know things that he should’ve. Things only he and I would’ve known. Important things.” At least Merlin seemed to be doing his best not to lie to him. Gwaine could accept that as enough, for now.

“Secrets are a good way to spot an imposter,” Gwaine agreed. “It’s funny. Every Time anything happens in Camelot, there’s always someone blaming sorcery, when I doubt sorcery is really the issue. But now, when something happens where sorcery is so obviously at fault, it isn’t even mentioned.” He shook his head. “You know we -- Percival, Leon, Elyan, and me -- we tried to tell Arthur. Make him see sense. But he wouldn’t listen. Banished Gwen anyway.” Gwaine knew Merlin was staring at him now, but he didn’t look up. “Elyan and I, we were gonna leave with her. But she wouldn’t let us.” He started pulling up the grass around him. “Said she had to pay for her mistake, because sorcery or not, she’d betrayed Arthur. Told us we had to stay to protect everyone.” He scoffed as he threw the grass he’d pulled up into the wind.

In reality, Gwen had told Gwaine in no uncertain terms that he knew he needed to stay for Merlin. She had had a harder time convincing Elyan to stay behind, but convince him she did. So Gwaine had given her what money and advice he could, and he made her promise to let them know if she ever needed anything.

“You would have left?” Merlin asked. He wasn’t looking and Gwaine anymore.

“I would have left Arthur,” Gwaine confirmed. “Stopped being one of his knights. Can’t serve a king who would punish the people who are loyal to him like that. But,” he swatted Merlin’s arm, “I could always serve you. Think Gaius would train me to be a physician?”

Merlin rewarded him with a small smile. “Gaius barely tolerates you when you’re injured. He’d hate dealing with you healthy. Besides, you'd have to stay sober.”

“Oh, well, scratch that, then!” Gwaine, having successfully lightened the mood, hopped up and held his hand out to Merlin. “What say we do some more sparring before heading back?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to evelynsteele for beta reading for me. I don't make it easy for her. Highly recommend her "Blowin' Smoke" series for any Supernatural fans out there.


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